Pressure sewer control system and method

1. A pressure sewer network monitoring and control system, comprising: a remote server in communication with at least one pump control system provided at a respective at least one pressure sewer installation comprising at least one fluid reservoir, wherein the remote server is configured to: monitor operation of the at least one pressure sewer installation based on messages received from the at least one pump control system; determine a changed fluid level threshold for the at least one fluid reservoir of the at least one pump control system based on the messages, wherein the messages comprise information indicative of a measured fluid level in the at least one fluid reservoir of the respective at least one pressure sewer installation; and remotely control operation of the at least one pump control system by transmitting one or more commands to the at least one pump control system, wherein at least one of the one or more commands comprises the changed fluid level threshold and is effective to cause a controller of the at least one pump control system to store the changed fluid level threshold in a memory of the at least one pump control system.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the remote server is in communication with at least one wireless transceiver of the at least one pump control system.

3. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a computerised user interface in communication with the remote server to allow remote user control of the at least one pump control system.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the remote server is configured to determine an alarm condition based on the messages received from the at least one pump control system and to automatically transmit one or more alarm messages to one or more user recipients, the one or more alarm messages including an indication of the alarm condition.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the messages further comprise information indicative of a sensed condition of a pump associated with the at least one pump control system.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the changed fluid level threshold is associated with a period of time.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the remote server is configured to store historical operational data for each of the at least one pressure sewer installations in a data store.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the remote server is configured to process the messages and historical operational data associated with the at least one pressure sewer installation according to rules stored in a data store to determine whether pre-defined events of interest may be occurring.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the remote server is configured to process the messages received from the at least one pump control system to perform trend analysis or to pre-emptively diagnose problems with one or more pressure sewer installations.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the remote server is configured to determine a presence of a leak at a pressure sewer installation in response to determining from the messages that a rate of change of fluid level in the at least one fluid reservoir exceeds a leakage threshold value.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more commands comprise instructions to set operational parameter values for at least one of fluid level thresholds, alarm levels, sensor sampling levels and reporting intervals.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more commands comprise instructions to inhibit at least one of operations of a pump of the at least one pump control system and pump control functions of a controller of the at least one pump control system.

13. The system of claim 1 , wherein the remote server is configured to transmit the one or more commands to the at least one pump control system to cause the at least one pump control system to cease normal autonomous operation for a period of time in response to the remote server determining that a flood situation may be occurring at the at least one pressure sewer installation.

14. The system of claim 1 , wherein the remote server is configured to transmit one or more commands to the at least one pump control system to cause the at least one pump control system to operate under a relatively higher level set-point in response to the remote server determining that a flood situation may be occurring at the at least one pressure sewer installations.

15. The system of claim 1 , wherein the remote server is configured to determine commands for another pump control system of a respective pressure sewer installation in a region based on additional messages received from the at least one pump control system of the at least one respective pressure sewer installation provided in the region to optimise usage of sewage network infrastructure within the region.

16. The system of claim 1 , wherein the remote server is configured to calculate real time waste fluid volumes based on the messages received from the at least one pump control system to determine data for engineering, planning or design purposes.

17. The system of claim 1 , wherein each of the at least one pump control systems corresponds to a respective pressure sewer installation within a region, and the remote server is configured to process additional messages received from a plurality of the at least one pump control systems to calculate real time waste fluid flows in sewage network infrastructure within the region and to manage peak flows in the sewage network infrastructure by determining the commands for the pump control systems of the respective pressure sewer installations based on the real time calculated waste fluid flows.

18. A method of monitoring and controlling operation of a pressure sewer network, the method operable in a remote server in communication with at least one pump control system provided at a respective at least one pressure sewer installation comprising at least one fluid reservoir, the method comprising: receiving messages from the at least one pump control system over a communications network; monitoring operation of the at least one pressure sewer installation based on the messages; determining a changed fluid level threshold for the at least one fluid reservoir of the at least one pump control system based on the messages, wherein the messages comprise information indicative of a measured fluid level in the at least one fluid reservoir of the respective at least one pressure sewer installation; and remotely controlling operation of the at least one pump control system by transmitting one or more commands to the at least one pump control system, wherein at least one of the one or more commands comprises the changed fluid level threshold and is effective to cause a controller of the at least one pump control system to store the changed fluid level threshold in a memory of the at least one pump control system.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the remote server is in communication with a wireless transceiver of the at least one pump control system, and wherein the communications network comprises a wireless communications network.

20. The method of claim 18 , wherein the changed fluid level threshold is associated with a time period.

21. The method of claim 18 , further comprising processing the messages and historical operational data associated with the respective at least one pressure sewer installation according to rules stored in a data store to determine whether pre-defined events of interest may be occurring.

22. The method of claim 18 , further comprising processing the messages received from the at least one pump control system to perform trend analysis or pre-emptively diagnose problems with the at least one respective pressure sewer installation.

23. The method of claim 21 , comprising determining a presence of a leak at the at least one pressure sewer installation in response to determining from messages received from the at least one pump control system of the respective at least one pressure sewer installation that a rate of change of fluid level in the at least one fluid reservoir exceeds a leakage threshold value.

24. The method of claim 18 , wherein transmitting one or more commands comprises transmitting one or more commands to the at least one pump control system to cause the at least one pump control system to cease normal autonomous operation for a period of time in response to the server determining that a flood situation may be occurring at the at least one pressure sewer installations.

25. The method of claim 18 , wherein transmitting one or more commands comprises transmitting one or more commands to the at least one pump control system to cause the at least one pump control system to operate at a relatively higher start level set-point in response to the remote server determining that a flood situation may be occurring at the at least one pressure sewer installations.

26. The method of claim 18 , wherein transmitting one or more commands comprises transmitting one or more commands to the at least one pump control system to cause the at least one pump control system to operate at a relatively higher start level set-point for a specified period of time.

27. The method of claim 26 , further comprising transmitting commands to the at least one pump control systems to cause the at least one pump control system to operate to pump fluid out of the at least one fluid reservoir once the specified period of time has elapsed.

28. The method of claim 18 , further comprising processing messages received from a plurality of the at least one pump control systems of the respective at least one pressure sewer installations within a region to calculate real time waste fluid flows in sewage network infrastructure within the region and determining the commands for a plurality of at least one pump control systems of the respective at least one pressure sewer installations within the region based on the real time calculated waste fluid flows to manage peak flows in the sewage network infrastructure.